My Room Has Become a Dungeon's Rest Area (LN) - Book 3: Chapter 1: (2) ***TEASER***

Ria told me the reason.

「Healing magic can involve surgery, so men and women are treated separately. Male priests attend to injured men, and female priests attend to injured women.」

My unpleasant hunch was correct. If I got injured and came here for treatment, I’d be seen to by a male priest.

「By the way, what do you mean by ‘it can involve surgery’?」

「Er, for example, if you used holy healing magic on a broken bone without treating it, the bone would stay crooked, which would cause a lot of problems.」

「I see.」

This aspect of the other world was also similar to ours. At least, holy healing magic didn’t return the body to its original state. Since healing magic was used in conjunction with a certain amount of surgical treatment, it made sense that separating men and women would cause fewer problems.

「Hey, you! Why’d you start the healing magic without even washing the gravel out of the wound?」

「S-sorry.」

「I’ll do it. Go away!」

We heard shouting and apologies from the women’s line.

Referring to what we’d just heard, Ria said, 「You see, healing magic isn’t just about having a feel for magic.」

「I get it.」

I’ve only heard her voice, but I wouldn’t want to be healed by that lady priest we just heard apologising.

Despite this, the visitors to the temple queued up in lines so long they began to coil around. This is a world of monsters, so lots of people must get injured.

In which case, I guess if you can do healing magic, you don’t need to go adventuring in order to earn lots of money.

The lines of injured people were really long, but there were only three or four people queueing to receive the telepathic language effect. Soon, it was my turn. People would be wary of me if I spoke in monster language, so I got Ria to ask on my behalf.

「Excuse me. This person comes from a remote region. Please bestow the lingua franca skill on him.」

「Understood. Donate two gold coins to the temple, please.」

Ria moved to take some money out, but I took out the gold pieces that I hadn’t converted in Japan.

「Thank you. By the blessing of the goddess Nalia, he is now able to use the lingua franca skill.」

「Doesn’t feel like anything’s changed… That’s 20,000 Japanese yen I’ve lost, and for nothing.」

「I c-can…… already hear you, you know. You mustn’t say things like that! By the way, what are ‘Japanese yen’?」

Gah! I’d used telepathic language without knowing. I apologised earnestly to Ria, and we left the temple.

「This ‘lingua franca’ skill is incredible. With this, I might even be able to communicate with tribes deep in the Amazon, even if we couldn’t understand each other verbally.」

「What do you think? Your world has a lot of convenient things in it, Sir Thor, but isn’t my world wonderful, too?」Ria said happily.

「Yeah, it’s amazing. But I’ll have to be careful not to accidentally use this on Japanese people once I go back.」

「You’ll soon get used to it.」

I guess Ria brought me to the temple first because she wanted me to be happy.

「Hey, Ria.」

「What is it?」

「Is there somewhere in this world that you’d like to go with me?」

「Huh? I wanted to go to the temple…」

「Yeah, but I mean… I wanna go somewhere that you’ll enjoy, not somewhere that’s for my benefit.」

Ria gave a small nod. She seemed to have understood what I wanted to say.

「Somewhere I’d like to go…… Hmm. My chivalric order has been disbanded…」

「Is there anywhere else?」

「We’d better go to the Adventurer’s Guild as a group. And the orphanage where the children are is in the neighbouring town…」

「What about somewhere a bit more fun?」

Serious to a fault, Ria could only come up with places to do with work and duties.

「Oh, that’s right. They might be doing…… that today. If they’re doing that, I’d like to go and see it with you…… Sir Thor.」

「Wait, what’s ‘that’?」

Ria blushed and looked away.

「It happens in the temple……」

「The temple again?」

「This one’s a smaller temple……」

「Anyway, what’s ‘that’?」

「No, never mind. I don’t think you’d enjoy it, Sir Thor.」

「Huh? Let’s go, let’s go! Take me there!」

Ria kept on saying, 「But」and so on, but it seemed like she really did want to go to that little temple.

I don’t know what they’re doing there, but I want to go and see it, too.

The temple that we’d just been to and the inn where we were staying were in the centre of Herakleon.

With Ria leading, we gradually made our way to the part of town where the common people – or, to put it bluntly, the poor – lived.

Just when I was starting to get worried, I saw something that, if we’d been on Earth, I would have said was a church bell tower.

This little temple couldn’t compare to the colossal temple we’d just been in, but I could hear music playing.

「What’s that? I can hear people playing instruments.」

「Yay! Today’s a holiday, so I thought they might be playing. We’ve arrived at just the right   time.」

Ria had seemed embarrassed all the time she was leading me here, but now she was very excited.

She pulled me by the hand over to the temple entrance, and handed two silver pieces to the person at the reception desk.

「Let’s go!」

Perhaps it’s an other world band recital of some kind?

I didn’t expect Ria to be such a poser, I thought to myself with a pleasant smile.

We went into the temple. It wasn’t that big, but there were loads of people sitting in its fan-shaped seating area. We sat down at the very back.

Perhaps the music we just heard was coming from this instrument. It looks like a pipe organ.

「Pretty solemn and subdued for a band recital……」

「Oh, they’re here!」

「 ‘They’re here’? Huh?」

My guess had been way off the mark.

To the right of where everyone was looking, a young woman appeared, wearing a white dress that was only slightly different from one you might see on Earth. From the left, a young man appeared, wearing clothes that I could tell at once were formal dress.

「A…… wedding ceremony……?」

「That’s right! When citizens of this region get married, anyone can attend for one gold piece.」

I had a feeling that on Earth, too, in some pastoral regions, strangers were allowed to turn up to wedding ceremonies on the spur of the moment.

「I guess you come here often, don’t you, Ria?」

When I asked that, Ria began to fidget, her embarrassment returning.

「Occasionally…… On holidays…… Every day that they’re held……」

That’s hardly ‘occasionally’.

The family that employed Ria had fallen into ruin, and Ria cared for the children of her employers’ former fief.

Maybe these wedding ceremonies that you can see for one gold piece are her only entertainment.

「The bride and groom will now perform the rite of oath in front of the goddess Nalia.」

The rite of oath? Just as I was wondering what that could be, the bride and groom brought their faces close together. Ah, so that’s what the rite of oath is.

「Hyaah!」

At the same time, Ria let out a strange squeak. I looked at her. Blushing, she looked down, but she kept glancing back up at the bride and bridegroom.

♦︎ ♦︎ ♦︎

It was the morning of the day after I’d visited the temples with Ria.

After eating breakfast, I headed to the Adventurers’ Guild with Deet.

「Just like I thought. The meals in Japan taste better…」

「Really? The tomato stew we had for dinner at the inn was pretty tasty.」

「I preferred the hot pot from Tons Quijote.」

「That’s popular in Japan, too. It’s a tie-in with a chain store.」

Deet and I were headed for the Adventurers’ Guild so we could get them to revoke the order to take down Enami.

It would be perfect if we could get them to revoke the order to take him down, and at the same time put out a request to capture him. I’ll ignore the fact that it’s not a search mission.

We’d decided that it would be best not to take the children to the Adventurers’ Guild, so Ria and Miri were looking after them.

「Incidentally, how much could someone get for the E-ranked mission to bring Enami down?」

「It depends. About three Gadheus gold pieces?」

Th-that’s not much!

Not that a higher price would make it much better, but Enami will be turning in his grave if he gets killed for only 30,000 Japanese yen. We’d better hurry!